Ravens vs. Texans inactives: Week 17 injury report for Christmas Day [Updated]

The Houston Texans and Baltimore Ravens know playoff football is in their near-distant future. Yet, they don't know who they will face on Super Wild Card Weekend (and the latter doesn't even know where they'll be playing). However, the results of their Week 17 clash might give us clarity on their respective paths to Super Bowl LIX in New Orleans.

Baltimore is neck and neck with the Pittsburgh Steelers atop the AFC North. How they fare down the stretch of the regular season could determine whether they're hosting or visiting in the first round of the postseason.

Meanwhile, the Texans are locked into at least one home playoff game. However, beating the Ravens on Christmas Day makes things interesting, giving them a chance to claim the No. 3 seed in the conference.

Houston and Baltimore will be without multiple players for their high-stakes holiday showdown. Both teams played merely four days ago, giving them less time than usual to recover ahead of their crucial meeting. Based on their respective injury reports, the turnaround was too quick for some key pieces, and the timing is brutal.

Texans inactives: Week 17 injury report for Christmas Day

Protection issues continue to plague quarterback C.J. Stroud and the Texans scoring unit. The sledding won't get any easier against the Ravens, considering starting interior offensive lineman Shaq Mason and Juice Scruggs have been ruled out. Notably, Baltimore ranks second in the NFL in sacks (47) this season, making this a matchup nightmare for Houston.

Veteran defensive tackle Foley Fatukasi hurt his ankle in Week 15 and has been sidelined since. He's yet to practice thereafter, so that will remain the case versus the Ravens.

We also won't see the Texans debut of newcomer Diontae Johnson on Christmas Day after he was just claimed off of waivers in recent days following his release from, go figure, the Ravens. That's to be expected given the limited time he's had in the building to this point and will likely need some time to get up to speed. Having said that, it will be interesting to at least speculate about the possibility that he might've been able to give his new team some sort of inside intel about his former club.

Ravens inactives: Week 17 injury report for Christmas Day

Change-of-pace/third-down running back Justice Hill had virtually no chance of clearing concussion protocol on such short notice after getting his bell rung in Week 16. Wide receiver Nelson Agholor is also unavailable due to a brain injury, though he's been on the shelf since going down in Week 15.

Despite the questionable tag, NFL Network's Ian Rapoport revealed that Zay Flowers is "expected to" suit up. Baltimore's top pass-catcher is tending to and managing a shoulder ailment, but it's not enough to prevent him from missing the team's battle with Houston.

Flowers and Tre'Davious White will both suit up for the Christmas Day game on Wednesday after being listed as questionable leading up to kickoff. White will continue to serve as a depth piece in the Ravens secondary but Flowers remains the bigger question. He's largely been the focal point of the passing offense with Jackson this season, so seeing if he's hindered at all in the matchup in Houston could go a long way to determining the team's offensive output. d